Mohammad Rizwan vs Fakhar Zaman: Who is the better batter?

[ex-q-zit]

During yesterday's match Rizwan was getting a lot of bashing for his s/r whilst Fakhar was batting at a lesser s/r. I checked their t20i career stats and these were the results:

Rizwan:
Innings 47 - Avg. 52.44 - St.Rate 128.36 - 6s 50

Fakhar:
Innings 61 - Avg. 22.68 - St.Rate 131.73 - 6s 45

Rizwan has double the average with a similar s/r. Has faced lesser innings and hit more 6s. Not sure why he gets to face the heat. Even if Fakhar comes to open I dont think his strike rate would be any different from what Rizwan has been striking now and would be less consistent.

 

[Rajdeep]

Fakhar Zaman gives that intimidating factor to the opposition which Rizwan never does. Lets put it this way, as an Indian fan...Zaman worries me the most from Pak team. His wicket is the key followed by Babar.

Rizwan is not a worry at all. The longer he bats is actually better for opposition. I was upset when he got out last game bcoz it meant better strikers like Khisdil and Asif came into bat.

Rizwan is very good while chasing 145 ish scores as he gives you consistency. But when Pak is batting first, Rizwan is an asset to opposition.

 

[Ab Fan]

The thing with Fakhar is that he has potential to accelerate much faster than Rizwan after getting his eyes in.

He has shown it based on some of his innings in ODIs and might be in T20s as well where he can shift to arguably fifth gear.

Having said that, Rizwan is important to Pakistan team as you can afford two anchors in the team and there is nothing wrong in striking at 130 if you can keep that average over 40. The only problem is you would want another opener to be devastative upfront like a Sehwag, Roy, Warner who can make the most of powerplay overs and the second anchor to be batting at 3 or 4 instead and producing the same output there.

 

[Hextro]

Average as an opener -

Rizwan - 69.5

Fakhar - 22.5

SR as an opener -

Rizwan - 133.5

Fakhar - 136.2

Average and SR in matches won as an opener -

Rizwan - 89.2, 138.6

Fakhar - 28.5, 138.4

Rizwan averages 3 times more than Fakhar with the same Strike Rate. Anyone that says Fakhar is a better or more dangerous batsman than Rizwan simply lacks cricketing knowledge.

 

[PakEngFan]

Average as an opener -

Rizwan - 69.5

Fakhar - 22.5

SR as an opener -

Rizwan - 133.5

Fakhar - 136.2

Average and SR in matches won as an opener -

Rizwan - 89.2, 138.6

Fakhar - 28.5, 138.4

Rizwan averages 3 times more than Fakhar with the same Strike Rate. Anyone that says Fakhar is a better or more dangerous batsman than Rizwan simply lacks cricketing knowledge.

But but rizwan plays due to an agenda. He shouldn’t be in the team.

 

[NeVerMind]

But but rizwan plays due to an agenda. He shouldn’t be in the team.

It's like arguing with Trump supporters with actual facts and stats... They will still stick to their story and claim fake news...

 

[Kroll]

Rizwan is at his peak and doing a far better job than Fakhar. But there is no denying that Rizwan is ultimately a makeshift opener and Fakhar has a much higher ceiling, dude needs to get his finger out and start firing.

 

[ads101]

If Rizwan score 50 that massive gap in strike rate equates to Fakhar making 51. We are arguing the difference between a so called aggressive and timid opener over 1 run. And fakhar hardly even gets to 50 too unlike Rizwan.

I can not believe posters are arguing for that hypothetical 1 run difference over a more than twice average. It’s honestly laughable.

 

[Justcrazy]

As an opener Fakhar can be more damaging .

 

[GreenKhan]

There is no doubt Fakhar is a more destructive batsman than Rizwan. Also in one day matches Fakhar is head and shoulders above Rizwan.

In t20s Fakhar has been inconsistent and that is reflected in his T20 average . But in terms of impact which is what the T20 format can also be about there is no doubt Fakhar has the most potential and pedigree .

 

[CadPakFan]

Rizwan can consistently score well at a strike rate of 130ish and Fakhar will fail as an opener a bit but when he gets going he's a very clean striker of the ball and in my opinion Rizwan doesn't have the ability to play an ultra-aggressive role and really go after the opposition like what Fakhar did vs Australia in the 2021 T20 WC Semi Final.

 

[Ab Fan]

Rizwan and Fakhar should open in my opinion as Rizwan might not suit at any other position apart from opener.

Babar is Pakistan's best batsman so he should be good enough to adapt at 3 like Kohli does. At 3 also, you get enough balls to make an impact so I don't think that should be a problem.

Rizwan
Fakhar
Babar
Haider( Iftikhar can come vs team with more left handers)
Khushdil
Asif
Imad
Shadab
Shaheen
Naseem
Rauf

 

[sweep_shot]

Fakhar.

He can take the game away.

 

[SamNJ]

Rizwan plays more important for Pakistan at the moment but I think Fakhar is way more dangerous for the opposition. The only batsman in this line up who can score at high pace with ease.
Technically Rizwan is a very limited player and isn't anywhere close to Fakhar in terms of range of shots.